Heterotic hybrids of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) with valuable quantitative characteristics

Abstract

The evaluated lavender hybrids exhibit heterosis compared to the maternal form across a series of quantitative traits assessed over several years. The manifestation of the heterosis effect was recorded in the quantitative traits related to the inflorescence: the length of the floral spike, which varied from +21.8% to +65.6% and the number of whorls per floral spike +11.1 to 44.6%. As for the essential oil content, this index showed values ranging between +51.5% and +85.2%. The hybrid genotypes 7Cr.13S-6-12-27 and 7Cr.13S-6-12-28, descendants of the maternal form Cr.13, were of particular interest, exhibiting the highest heterosis indices for the studied characters and accumulating the highest essential oil content, over 5% (dry matter).